So called «Beatles shows» were a must for many Swiss dancing bands in the Sixties. Here are the Five Dorados doing one, complete with Beatles sweat shirts. The Dorados later played for John Lennon himself.

The Swiss Dance Combos were the first to adapt the Beatles style – due to public demand. In 1964 the (until then) very successful Hazy Osterwald Sextett published a single with a German version of “Twist and Shout”, but the result was rather lame and stiff.

In 1964/65 The Valentinos were one of the first dance combos, who attracted the Zurich night people with their Beatles covers and – of course – outfits. Bassplayer Freddy Mangili (right) was recruited by the «real» Swiss Beatles Les Sauterelles soon after this picture had been taken.

It was in the French part of Switzerland, where Swiss Beatlemania started on record. Lausanne singer Tony Rank published his French version of «Little Child» in December 1964 on the Barclay label (Paris).

Polo Hofer, a singing drummer from Interlaken, who later was the originator of the Swiss Dialect Rock boom, made this drawing called «Those Beatles» in February 1964. But his heart kept on beating for black Music.

Les Sauterelles from Zurich were called The Swiss Beatles – as early as in Winter 1964. At first the band was not happy with the new tag, but as we can see on the photo, they already practiced the “Beatles jump”.

The Beatles were used as «locomotives» to promote concerts of local Swiss Beat bands. On this poster from 1965 they promote a handful of ambitious young beat bands, headlined by Les Pirates who later this year changed their name to The Sevens and recorded one of the most wanted European Beat albums.

CONCERT POSTER THE BLACK CAPS

The Black Caps were the competitors of the Morlocks in the Bernese Beat circuit and saw themselves as the Bernese Rolling Stones. But the graphics on this poster from 1965 also pay tribute to the Beatles – yeah yeah!

This cover version of Lennon/Mc Cartney’s «Birthday» was released by Swiss musician Erwin “Winy” Klarer who had played with the Swiss Band The Angels. It was quite a success in The Netherlands and Germany, and got powerplay on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline.